1-2 punch: Young joins Peavy on DL

Chris Young is joining Jake Peavy – and nearly every other Padres starting pitcher from the beginning of the season – on the disabled list.

With the near certainty that Young's shoulder injury would cause him to miss two starts, the Padres will put the right-hander on the 15-day DL today and resummon left-hander Wade LeBlanc from Triple-A Portland, naming LeBlanc the starter for tonight's opener of a three-game home series against the Oakland Athletics.

That leaves Kevin Correia as the only member of the team's rotation on Opening Day who's still pitching for the Padres. Although that should change, with tomorrow's starter expected to be Walter Silva, who was the Padres' No. 3 starter at season's outset and has been with Portland since coming off the DL on May 25.

The fifth pitcher coming out of spring training was Shawn Hill, who lasted just three starts before again being sidelined by arm problems that ultimately put him on the 60-day DL.

While Peavy was pitching with an ankle strain that eventually put him in a walking cast and on the DL, Young's been carrying around an inflamed pitching shoulder while struggling on the mound, losing four straight games.

An MRI Monday showed no structural damage, and since then, Young has had two cortisone injections. Black said he doesn't expect the injury to require a lengthy rehabilitation process, but obviously the Padres are in big-time makeshift mode.

“You lose your top two starting pitchers, it's not a scenario that you look forward to,” Black said. “You look across the land, you see (Arizona's) Dan Haren-Brandon Webb (pitching duo), (San Francisco's) Tim Lincecum-Matt Cain, (Los Angeles') Chad Billingsley-(Clayton) Kershaw. . . . Take two of those guys out of any rotation, it's tough. But here again, guys are getting an opportunity to see what they can do as major league pitchers.”

It'll be LeBlanc's third stint with the Padres, although he didn't pitch at all during a four-day stay with the club last week. Once among the most celebrated prospects in the Padres system, the change-up artist was given four starts and one relief appearance with San Diego last year, finishing with a 1-3 record and 8.02 ERA.

Rougher yet was spring training, where LeBlanc had a chance to earn a spot in the Padres' rotation but couldn't pull it off. LeBlanc is 1-4 with the Beavers, including a 4.08 ERA and 47 strikeouts in 59 1/3 innings.

“We gave him some fundamental pitching advice that he needed to think very strongly about to help him,” said Black.

“Especially the last three or four weeks, I think he's put into play some of the things we've talked about. He's pitching very well of late.”